Funeral Season
by Mini Nephthys
Summary: One student outside told her that he hadn't seen Shirou since before lunch. He was probably still inside the student council room, then. He was. Post Dead End 18. Spoilers.


**Author's Note: **This is angsty. And there is character death. You have been warned. Oh, and spoilers for UBW, for both Bad End 18 and the actual main plot.

Also, this is probably the last UBW fic I'm going to write for a bit. (I'm not a Shirou/Rin fan.) Those of you who liked Depossessed, Dispossessed and/or Mnestis will probably like the upcoming Broken Phantasm, which basically onesided Issei/Shirou with 50 percent more Archer, fight scenes, and epic!fic. Look forward to it.

I'm serious about the angst and the character death in this.

* * *

Rin first realized something was wrong when Fujimura didn't show up to class. Instead, the principal announced that school was being closed early and that all students should leave as soon as possible.

"Is it the city killings again?" she asked the principal while the other students filed out. He refused to answer her.

She headed towards Shirou's classroom and found it empty. One student outside told her that he hadn't seen Shirou since before lunch.

He was probably still inside the student council room, then.

He was.

As she opened the door, she saw the blood splattered throughout the room and gasped. The sickening sight of two of her classmates dead greeted her, and she forced herself to think coldly and rationally. Otherwise, she would not have been able to think at all.

Shirou was seated at the table. His face was still in an expression of surprise - this had not been a fair fight. He had died of a stomach wound.

Issei was sitting across from him. His eyes were closed, and his hands had clearly just ripped out his own throat. Suicide.

What had gone on here? It was obvious that Issei had killed Shirou and then himself, but why? Even if he had been a Master, Issei wouldn't have killed his closest friend out of nowhere, not without at least giving Shirou the chance to defend himself. It was hard to imagine him hurting _anyone_.

What if…

Rin opened one of Issei's eyes and confirmed that it was completely red.

…Issei hadn't killed anyone at all?

_Caster_.

* * *

"You're home early," Archer noted. "Did something happen?"

Rin nodded, slumping onto the sofa. "Shirou and another student were killed today," she said quietly.

Archer's eyes widened, but his voice remained low. "By a Servant?"

"…Not exactly. It was Caster."

Rin told him all that she knew about what happened. Focused as she was on keeping her voice from shaking, she didn't notice Archer's small intake of breath when she said Issei's name.

When she finished, he said, "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Rin."

"I'm a magus," she countered, drawing herself up. "I've seen dead bodies many times before, I'm used to these things."

"But not the bodies of your friends." His voice was too sympathetic. Rin briefly wondered how many of his own friends he'd seen die in front of him.

"…No," she reluctantly agreed. "Not of my friends."

* * *

Archer had let Caster go.

He could have killed her that night, and he didn't because he needed her Noble Phantasm in order to break his contract and kill his younger self.

That had worked well, hadn't it? Caster had killed Shirou, and Archer still existed. And Caster had killed one of the people that, in life, he cared for. If he had just killed her then, he might have had a chance to kill Shirou anyway, and Issei would still be alive, and Rin wouldn't have had to see her classmates in pools of their own blood.

He didn't, and he added another to his list of regrets.

* * *

"Caster," Kuzuki intoned.

"Soichiro-sama?" Caster asked nervously, catching the faint hint of irritation in his voice.

"Was it necessary to kill him?" he continued.

No need to ask which one. "…Yes. It was the best opportunity to rid ourselves of the Master, who could have posed a threat to us."

"I see. However, do not do such things again."

"Yes, Soichiro-sama."

Kuzuki nodded and looked away. Had Caster not known him as well as she did, she would not have known that he mourned.

* * *

If one good thing could be said of Kotomine, it was this: he did his job well. The incident never made it to the news. The right authorities were convinced that the pair had been delirious from one illness or another. The wrong authorities were bribed. No one noticed Saber's sudden disappearance.

Families were more difficult. No amount of words could convince Taiga to move on and forget. It was possible that she might always be in mourning - she even replaced the tiger strap on her _shinai_ with a black one. The same went for Sakura, except it was much more dangerous to even try with her.

But as long as they didn't ask questions, his work was done.

* * *

The two pairs of Master and Servant stared down each other.

"Archer," Rin asked at last, "how good are our odds?"

Archer smirked. "Good," he said simply, projecting his twin swords.

"Then shall we?" she continued.

"Of course."

After so long without it, righteous indignation was a strange thing to feel.

* * *

The victory was a hollow one, as were the ones after it. They had no wishes to ask, and so they wished that the Grail had none to grant them.

When Archer finally disappeared, after staying with her as long as he could, Rin realized that in the space of a few days, she'd lost the only two real friends she'd ever had. Like with Shirou, she refused to cry.

* * *

Most of the class showed up at Shirou's funeral - Shinji didn't attend, mostly due to threats from Rin if he showed up. They all expressed their condolences to Taiga and Sakura, the closest thing to family that Shirou had had. Rin tried to comfort Sakura and found that she could not. She had no right to.

The priest hadn't known Shirou, and his speech was generic. He only mentioned Kiritsugu once or twice. It bordered on insulting.

Issei's funeral was small, private. Rin wasn't invited. He wouldn't have wanted her to go, anyway. She'd probably "defile" it or something like that.

Never before had she thought she would miss being insulted.

She did leave them flowers, though. Archer had chosen them. It figured that he cared more about the death of a complete stranger than the one of Shirou.

* * *

Years passed.

Rin went to England to study magic, as she'd always planned. She let her mask break for no one.


End file.
